Good Kill TIFF Review (1 Viewer)

[Yavin]

After a couple of mis-steps with The Host and In Time, writer/director Andrew Niccol is back in top form with Good Kill, a timely look inside the heads of America's drone operators.

The story is based on actual events during the War on Terror, circa 2010, and focuses on Major Thomas Egan (Ethan Hawke), a combat veteran who'd rather be flying F-16s than sitting in a stuffy cubicle issuing commands by remote control. But as his directives veer more and more towards the moral grey area, he finds himself increasingly conflicted about his job.

From my review at TIFF:

Up until recently, Thomas never gave a second thought to his duties as an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) pilot, other than the fact that it made him long for his days in the cockpit of an F-16. But that was because he knew who the enemy was. That all changes, however, once he and co-pilot Vera Suarez (Zoë Kravitz) begin helming covert missions for the C.I.A. Suddenly, their directives become exclusively about proactively "prosecuting" targets who've yet to commit any real crime, and the black-and-white line separating them from the terrorists begins to dissolve into the moral grey.

Writer/director Andrew Niccol's (Gattaca, Lord of War) up-close-and-personal look at the lives of drone operators places the audience squarely in their combat boots, while Hawke's intense performance — as a man who's not only burdened with the guilt from his actions on the battlefield but who's also strained by growing tensions on the homefront — shows us the psychological toll that the job can take. And though it's set in the reality of the War on Terror, circa 2010, the story remains just as topical today — if not more so — prompting the question: if this is what modern warfare has become, does the end justify the means?

4 out of 5.

 

[Yavin]

As Good Kill is now in wide release, here is a fuller review.


In summary:


Writer/director Andrew Niccol is a filmmaker known for exploring the ethical boundaries and moral ambiguities of his subject matter, and his latest movie, Good Kill, is no different. Grounded in the reality of America's War on Terror, the film tackles the topic of drone warfare, casting Ethan Hawke as an F-16-pilot-turned-drone-operator who finds himself at a moral crossroads when the CIA tasks him with proactively eliminating potential terrorist threats. Burdened by the guilt of his actions on the battlefield and strained by growing tensions on the homefront, his character is comparable to Bradley Cooper's turn as real-life sniper Chris Kyle in Clint Eastwood's American Sniper. Yet, Good Kill is more than just a story about one man, or about the broader suffering that plagues soldiers with PTSD. The film may be set in 2010, but the questions it raises remain just as topical today — if not more so. For if this is the latest evolution of 21st-century warfare, can we truly say that the end justifies the means? Or is the price of war simply too high to accept?


4 out of 5.